Improvement in fire-alarms



No` 119,713. Patented oct. 10,1871,

Jos @p11 N. Fs. @c John Eussell.

Automatic Tire. S ennel lUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.,

JOSEPH NELSON PITTS AND JOHN EDSON RUSSELL, OF NIAGARA FALLS, N. Y.

iMPRovEMl-:NT IN FIRE-ALARMS.-

Speciiication forming part of Letters Patent No. 119,713, dated October 10, 1871 antedated September 30, 1871.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, JOSEPH NELSON PITTS and JOHN EDSON RUSSELL, of Niagara Falls, in the county of Niagara and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in an Automatic Fire-Sentinel or Fire- Alarm, to give an early notice of a iire in any room of a building or any exposed place about the premises; and the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 represents the case containing the alarm mechanism with the bell mounted; also, an elevated cross for supporting the detaching or liberating mechanism and the connecting lineal-mediums. Fig. 2 shows an edge view of the cross for the support of the liberating and lineal medium attachments. Fig. 3 shows atop view of the incline slides for letting off the alarm mechanism by the severing of any of the lineal mediums.

The object of our invention is to make a fire or a given degree Aof heat occurring in any room or place the agent for giving an early notice or alarm of iire on the premises. Our invention consists in the construction and arrangement of a series of sliding wedges or inclined bars, by the movement of which, either one of them, laterally, will detach the holder and give the alarm; also, in connecting with the sliding bars or inclined pieces lineal mediums, such as strings, cord, twine, or rope, either in whole or in part, of any kind of material that will burn off or be quickly severed by the heat, the inilammable or frail portions ot` these lineal mediums to be placed in each room, recess, or place in a building or about the premises that would be likely to take lire or blaze first. They may also be placed in out-houses, barns, stables, or anywhere that is in danger of being fired; and any number of them can be connected by ropes, Wires, rods, shafts, or chains, with the let-oft' device, so as to operate the automatic sentinel wherever it is placed, and thus give an alarm at so early a stage of a Jrire as to enable it to be easily extinguished and thereby cause the saving of much life and property.

To enable others to make, apply, and use our invention, we will describe it more fully, referring to the drawing and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The same letters indicate the like parts in all of the iigures.

The automatic-sentinel or alarm mechanism may be incased in a box made of wood or of metal, oil any suitable size and design, ornamental or otherwise; and it may consist of an arrangement oi' clock-work, A, operated by a spring or weight, to be wound up in the usual manner of winding a clock, or by any other local power, the alarm being sounded by a hammer, a, striking on a bell, B, or on a gong or other substance that Will make a noise sufficiently loud to awaken a person or a household from sleepin case of a iire occurring in the night. The alarm mechanism or clock-work A is provided with a sliding bar, c, with a stop, c, or an equivalent device, to hold the mechanism silent until some one of the lineal mediums e c are severed. The sliding bar c, being connected to a sliding bolt or hook, d, by a cord and ring, starts the alarm instantly when the hook or bolt is withdrawn by the action of the springf underneath or by its own gravity. The bolt or hook d is connected, by a link-chain or cord, with a catch-rod, g, which is set in a hole, b, in a sliding plate, h, to which one of the lineal connections e is made. The catch-rod g comes in contact with and rests against the inclined slidin g bars E E, of which any required number may be so placed as to operate on the catch-rod g from either side at right or oblique angles, so as to liberate it from any direction or point, when any one of the lineal connections e are severed, so as to instantly cause the automatic sentinel to sound the alarm. Each of the inclined sliding bars E is provided with an independent helical spring, f, or its equivalent, so

that when any one of the lineal-medium'cou nections e is burned off or broken it will certainly relieve the bolt cl and give the alarm.

The clock-work or alarm mechanism, being lo-l cated in a suitable position, is wound up, the sliding rod c is pulled forward, and the ring upon the end of the line e is placed upon the end of the sliding bolt or hook d, which is connected with the catch-bar g, which rests upon any number of inclined or wedge-shaped sliding bars E, which are drawn back and held by the lines passing into the rooms, or a main line placed overhead in a hall or passage extending its whole length, the lineal mediums or the lines passing into each room on the opposite sides of the hall7 forming as many junctions with the main line as there are suitesoi' rooms or places exposed to fire, they being so secured in the several apartments as to draw on the main line and make it zigzag sufficiently, so that, should any one of the roomlines be severed, the straightening of the angle ofthe main line would let one of the inclined slides E go back and set oli' the alarm. The arrangement upon the cross D of the slides, springs, cords, Src., only shows the action of the main lines in the different directions as they will act on so many points; but it will be obvious to any one that the connections may be increased in number to any required extent.

YI-laving thus fully described our invention,

what We claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, s

The combination of the bar c, sliding bolt or y our names.

JOSEPH NELSON PITTS. JOHN EDSON RUSSELL.

Witnesses:

S. V. SALENO, H. N. GRIFFITH. 

